


Something Like What I've Been Missing

by abp



Series: All the Times [3]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, Set in the 90s, aka the boys are alive, gentle loving support of Alex basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29209446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abp/pseuds/abp
Summary: Alex didn't think there would be anything to say after he came out to his friends, but maybe there is. Or at least, Reggie has a few things he wants Alex to know.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: All the Times [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006380
Comments: 7
Kudos: 76





	Something Like What I've Been Missing

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this for literal months because my laptop's been broken--so happy to finally post it! 
> 
> This story takes place directly after For the Second Time, but you don't have to read that to understand this. Seeing as I wrote it, I recommend it. But do what you will. (Also the title is from Emily King's Remind Me, which is a great song and I recommend that too.)

When the school day finally ends, Alex is surprised to see Reggie slip on his bus and slide into the seat beside him. 

“Hey,” Reggie greets, as if this was expected. They’re both still wearing borrowed shirts from Luke and Reggie has the flannel sleeves pushed up to his elbows. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh.” Reggie blinks. “Right. Do you wanna hang out?”

Alex snorts. “Yeah sure. How about my house?” he asks dryly, and Reggie lights up. 

“Great!" He starts to rummage through his backpack--completely oblivious to Alex’s stare of mild disbelief--until he pulls out a beat up walkman and waves the headphones. “Wanna listen?”

Years of friendship have taught Alex it’s best to just go along with anything that doesn’t ping higher than a five on the crazy scale (this is  _ maybe _ a two), so he nods and accepts that Reggie is coming over with no further explanation. 

It’s awkward to hold the headphones between them and they have to squish a little closer than Alex would like on the gross sweaty bus, but it’s better than listening to the other kids talking. Plus Reggie puts together the  _ best _ mixtapes out of anyone. 

“Whitney, huh?” 

Reggie nods, grinning almost imperceptibly. “Thought you’d like that. You only sing this song like,  _ all the time _ .”

Alex scoffs like it’s untrue (and there are a lot of pre-practice moments that say otherwise), but he’s grinning back. 

The mixtape isn’t over by the time the bus pulls up in front of Alex’s house, but Reggie turns it off and haphazardly throws his walkman back into the void of his backpack before leading the way up Alex’s driveway. 

Alex unlocks the door, thankful that his parents aren’t home until late on Thursdays. It’s not that they don’t like his friends--they’re  _ thrilled _ he has friends, actually. But… they definitely don’t understand them. His dad tried to talk to Luke about baseball for twenty minutes; his mom thought Reggie was in a gang because he wore a leather jacket. They don’t understand the band, either, but it turns out being socially awkward for 13 years will buy you a  _ lot _ of leeway as long as you finally have some other kids your age to hang out with. 

Reggie immediately looks out of place in the house. Alex can tell he’s trying not to move too much for fear of somehow making a mess. And this is exactly why they mostly spend time at Luke’s, Bobby’s, or the garage. No one is comfortable here--not that Alex can blame them. 

“C’mon.” Alex grabs Reggie by the wrist to tug him upstairs. “Let’s go to my room.”

Among the unmade bed and poster covered walls, Reggie relaxes. He drops his backpack and starts flipping through Alex’s records like he always does.

“Nothing new there,” Alex says, as  _ he _ always does and waits for Reggie’s usual reply.

“I just like looking.” Reggie stops to look at him, a smile on his face.

With Luke always at the center of every room, Alex forgets sometimes how easy his relationship with Reggie really is. But things like this… Reggie’s mixtape with Whitney songs and flipping through the same records he’s seen so he can tell Alex again which ones he’s jealous of, it’s nice. Comforting.

Reggie is still poking through old records when Alex starts to wonder if he  _ should  _ ask why, after spending an entire night and part of a school day together, he came over. But pushing Reggie… that’s more of a Luke thing. 

Alex bites his lip. He's close to formulating the perfect thing to say when Reggie turns around and instead he blurts out "Wanna play Super Mario?"

"Oh cool, yeah!"

Alex breathes out. Okay, he failed but he could try again. Later. Yeah, later. Alex starts to get up when Reggie stops him. 

“Wait, first I wanted to talk to you about last night. You know, when you told me you’re gay.”

“Oh.” Alex’s stomach drops. Logically he knows that it’s nothing bad--if Reggie was going to cuss him out or tell him he didn’t want to be friends anymore, he wouldn’t have spent an entire day being normal. That doesn’t stop the anxiety twisting inside him, though. 

“I didn’t mean to wait so long, but I didn’t want to say anything at school or around Luke’s parents or anything,” Reggie goes on babbling, oblivious to Alex’s internal struggle. “But yeah. I wanted to say that you can, like, talk to me. You know?”

Alex’s eyebrows furrow. “Uh, I think I already did? Yesterday?”

Reggie shakes his head, moving to sit on the end of the bed. “No, I mean about guys and stuff. We talk about girls with you all the time and I realized that probably sucked for you?” 

Alex softens. There have definitely been times where he felt a little uncomfortable, and his go to is deflecting any talk about girls and crushes immediately, but he never really thought he could have more. Being able to say who he is out loud felt insurmountable for so long that picturing a world where he could talk about it nonchalantly was impossible. 

“But now we can talk about boys you like too,” Reggie continues eagerly. 

Alex flushes a little. "You don't have to do this. I don't want to make things weird."

“It's not weird," Reggie insists. "And if I was only okay with you being gay if you never talked about it, that'd be shitty. We're friends right? Friends talk about crushes and stuff."

Alex nods slightly, overwhelmed. In all the best case scenarios he'd run in his head he never even considered that the guys would want to be  _ involved  _ in this part of his life. The thought of having that--of being  _ normal _ \--is intoxicating. 

“So, uh, are there any?" Reggie asks, snapping Alex back into focus. "Boys you like?”

Alex's heart stutters and he squirms under Reggie's well meaning curiosity. He wants to share, he does. But it's also awkward. “Uhh… I mean.” He coughs, running a hand through his hair. “No?”

It’s the weakest no in history, so Alex isn’t surprised when Reggie gives him a look. 

“Okay, there is kinda but it’s not like a  _ real  _ thing. Just a stupid crush I’m half over,” Alex babbles. "It would never work, even if he liked me."

Reggie tilts his head thoughtfully, staring way too closely. It makes Alex squirm. "So… Luke?"

Alex chokes on nothing. "What? No. Why would you-? No."

"I mean you hate pretty much every guy at school other than me and Bobby and Luke. And I doubt it's Bobby after the tangerine incident."

Alex glares. "Don't even--why would you bring that up?" 

Reggie gives a smug look. "So not Bobby and not me--wait it's not me, right?"

"No! Gross." He makes a face for good measure. Though Alex has to think if he met Reggie now--this boy who makes him mixtapes and does the stupidest things to make him laugh--he might have felt something for like half a second. Luckily they met in eighth grade and Reggie spilled a beaker on him immediately so that was nothing Alex had to worry about. 

"Excuse you, I'd be a great boyfriend," Reggie sticks his tongue out. "Except, yeah, gross, you're like the brother I never had."

Alex snorts. "You  _ have _ a brother."

"Yeah, but you're not like him."

"Whatever," Alex says, but the corners of his mouth quirk up in spite of himself. Alex doesn't have a brother but... Reggie does feel like his brother. 

"So yeah, if it's not me or Bobby, then it's got to be Luke."

"Maybe you don't know him," Alex tries feebly. He's lost this one already--how the hell did Reggie get so perceptive? “I don’t actually hate  _ every _ guy at school.” 

"Maybe, but you stare at Luke  _ all the time. _ "

"I do not!" Alex flushes. He fidgets with the hem of his shirt and feels more aware than ever that he's still wearing the borrowed tee from Luke.

Reggie nudges Alex's leg with his foot in a gesture of comfort. "It's cool,  _ everyone _ stares at Luke." 

That, Alex doesn't know what to do with. But he sighs and finally admits the truth. "Fine, it's Luke. But it's not a big deal." 

Reggie lights up with a smile, clearly pleased with his newfound insightfulness. And honestly, it feels… good to say it out loud. To see Reggie smiling at him after he named a  _ boy _ he liked. 

"See you can tell me this stuff! And I won't tell Luke or anything, promise."

Alex coughs. "He, uh, knows actually."

"What?" Reggie's eyebrows go up. "Wait. You're not, like, secretly together are you? Because you said you weren’t, but I’d be cool if--"

"No!" Alex's cheeks are pink again. "He doesn't like me like that. And honestly I don't know that I'd want to date him. I mean, I like him but it's just because he's…  _ Luke _ . It's easy with him." Alex doesn't know how else to describe it, but he knows Reggie understands. There's something about Luke that makes you feel safe and excited and like you matter all at the same time. "But we'd be a mess anyway." 

Not that Alex has really thought about a  _ we _ in a serious way. It's just that Luke is so intense and all encompassing and Alex thinks he might get lost in that--especially when he's barely started figuring out who he is. 

Reggie nods thoughtfully. "No, you're probably better off this way. Can you imagine Luke as a boyfriend?" A mischievous grin crosses his lips and he leans in. "Alex," he says in an overdramatic approximation of Luke. "There’s nothing in the world that could tear me away from you--wait that gives me an idea for a song, grab your drums!" 

Alex shakes his head, smiling despite himself. 

Which Reggie seems to take as encouragement. He cups Alex's cheeks staring at him intently. "It's about the  _ muuuusic, _ Alex! No time to make out now!" 

Alex pushes him off, laughing. "Oh my God, you're such a dork."

When Reggie stops snickering, he gives Alex a lopsided smile. "You'll find someone else, someone you do really want to date. And he'll be almost awesome enough to deserve you."

Alex swallows down his emotions. "Thanks, Reg."

"Just tell me about him first next time, will you? I'm always the last to know," Reggie pouts.

"That would be Bobby, actually." Alex winces. He really has to come out to him at this point, it's going to get weird if he waits any longer. 

"Oh right!" Reggie perks up. "So that's why we keep him around." 

Alex rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Get your jokes out while Bobby's not here to punch you."

"Pfft," Reggie waves him off. "I can take  _ Bobby _ . All you have to do is mess up his hair and he gets distracted."

"Yeah, okay, like you can talk." Alex laughs as he leans over to ruffle Reggie's hair and he yelps and leans away. 

Reggie scowls at him, more for show than anything, as he fixes his hair. “Well, I’m not as bad as Bobby.” 

“If you say so,” he smirks, but it’s probably true. Alex watches Reggie smoothing down hair that was never even messed up for a moment more. “I will, though.”

“What?”

His cheeks flush and Alex feels a little stupid, but it matters a whole lot at the same time. Having this matters to him more than he realized. “I’ll, um. Tell you next time I like a boy.”

“I’m glad.” Reggie smiles back at him.

He wonders if Reggie knew somehow that he needed this. But it doesn’t matter, really. Reggie’s smile is like sunshine and Alex warms. 


End file.
